<podcast:pinned> - For "pinning" an episode to the top of a feed

[daveajones]

Proposal: <podcast:pinned> tag

Purpose

Sometimes a podcaster may feel that a particular episode (or episodes) are a good entry point into their show and would like to suggest that listeners start with that particular episode first. The <podcast:pinned> tag allows the podcaster to specify one or more such episodes to be "pinned" to the top of the episode list for purposes of display in a podcast app after subscribing. This "pinning" effect is only meant to be done when a podcast is first subscribed to. Once the show is listened to or marked as listened, it should no longer be pinned.

Tag

<podcast:pinned>

Parent

  <channel>

Count

  Multiple

Attributes

• guid (required) The guid of the episode to be pinned.

Examples

Example (IRC):

<podcast:pinned guid="208a035a-1938-4343-8e1f-f686a8008e23" />

[daveajones]

The first thought was having this in the <channel> with a guid attribute attached. But, I could also see it just being a child of the pinned <item>. I don't have a strong preference either way. Maybe one of the hosting companies have a preference?

[genebean]

My $0.02: I like it/them being at the channel level because it would be easy to locate without having to iterate over every item in the feed (both programmatically and as a human).

[ryan-lp]

Ii would also make a pinned item / featured item / spotlight item as a child of the channel, whereas playlist membership could be tagged via a child of the item. i.e. If we're recreating what YouTube has, it shows a single spotlight video at the top of a channel, and then below it, it shows some featured playlists.

[theDanielJLewis]

Relevant prior discussions: #305, #281, and #385.

[samsethi]

Hi Dave

Should that be feedGUID for Pinning to ensure consistency?

<podcast:pinned feedGuid="208a035a-1938-4343-8e1f-f686a8008e23" />

        <podcast:valueTimeSplit startTime="60" duration="237" remotePercentage="95">
           <podcast:remoteItem itemGuid="https://podcastindex.org/podcast/4148683#1" **feedGuid**="a94f5cc9-8c58-55fc-91fe-a324087a655b" medium="music" />
        </podcast:valueTimeSplit>

podcast:podroll
<podcast:remoteItem feedGuid="29cdca4a-32d8-56ba-b48b-09a011c5daa9" />
<podcast:remoteItem feedGuid="396d9ae0-da7e-5557-b894-b606231fa3ea" />
<podcast:remoteItem feedGuid="917393e3-1b1e-5cef-ace4-edaa54e1f810" />
</podcast:podroll>

[jamescridland]

"Pinned" is pointing to an episode in the current feed - so, no.

But, it would help if it were called itemGuid rather than the ambiguous guid.

[samsethi]

Yep sorry you are right James itemGUID

[theDanielJLewis]

I think I said something similar to this in the prior discussions about a "feature" option, but here's a more refined idea in this latest version.

I suggest we offer to ways to feature an episode:

1. Wrap a normal <item> like we do for live items. This would allow the podcaster to create a normal episode but prevent it from downloading. This could prevent it from downloading on first follow. But it would also prevent it if a podcaster adds a featured item later. For example, does my entire existing audience really need to receive the trailer designed for non-listeners?
2. Add a simple in-item tag for featuring something that is supposed to be released to existing followers. For example, a special episode, announcement, best-of, or anything like that.

I also suggest we offer a description attribute, allowing the podcaster to write something specifically targeted to new audiences. Featuring a normal episode, for example, might say, "This episode contains our listener-favorite stories from the past 5 years, and it's a great way to hear our best highlights!" But the actual episode's description would be a normal one.

[jamescridland]

This isn't a trailer.

This is an equivalent of Spotify's "START HERE" feature - a publicly available episode that you'd really like people to try first.

I'd be really keen to make it as functionally equivalent to Spotify's feature as possible, please.

[theDanielJLewis]

Right, I referenced a trailer as one example where the podcaster might not want the media pushed down the feed. Other instances could be a "best of" compilation, or any kind of "start here" sort of media that may or may not also be a "trailer" of some sort.

[jamescridland]

When Spotify launches their "start here" function, I think that is the time when we specify this feature.

My understanding is that it's always a public episode - even a trailer - and should always exist in an <item> tag to be playable.

[samsethi]

We added support for Podcast Pinning this week and at the top of a podcaster's feed, they can now either feature their trailer or a previous episode. They do this by simply ticking either the trailer episode which is selected by default or they choose an episode they want NEW listeners to start listening to first before they subscribe to the podcast.

The Podfans App front end. Showing a trailer episode

Creators Admin Dashboard showing the trailer episode selected which is featured.

[samsethi]

@dave This could be added to phase 7 as it's simple and has been implemented to show it working in TrueFans.

[mijustin]

@daveajones @samsethi I would like to +1 something like this proposal.

Here is the use-case: we host a popular podcast that has some “greatest hits” episodes that many new listeners don’t see because in an episodic feed, those episodes are waaaaay down the list.

Currently, they’re considering changing the publish date on those episodes so they appear in slots 3-5 (after their newest 2). I don’t love this hack - wish there was a way to give creators this control.

It would be amazing for creators to (metaphorically) welcome new followers to their feed: "Welcome! You'll find our newest episodes here, but also here are our "greatest hits.""

h/t @nathangathright for pointing me here 👍

[Marzal]

What about a more broad implementation?

#747